'I think Donald Trump is a gangster': A clash of 'brothers' on Q&A

We’re sorry, this feature is currently unavailable. We’re working to restore it. Please try again later.

Advertisement

This was published 5 years ago

'I think Donald Trump is a gangster': A clash of 'brothers' on Q&A

By Neil McMahon

On Monday night, Q&A served up an enlightening combination.

There was Cornel West, an expressive and impassioned African-American man from the United States who barely paused for breath.

There were two dull white men from Australia - the Liberal senator Eric Abetz, and the living argument against having a people's panellist, Jeremy Bell - whose dullness managed to redefine the word even as they carefully skirted the borders of overt bigotry.

Oh brother... American philosopher Cornel West (right) and Liberal senator Eric Abetz went head to head on Q&A.

Oh brother... American philosopher Cornel West (right) and Liberal senator Eric Abetz went head to head on Q&A.Credit: ABC

There was a woman from Canada, the free-speech campaigner Lindsay Shepherd, who appeared uncertain of both her views and how on earth she ended being invited on television in Australia. And there was Anne Aly, an MP who negotiated best-practise of modern Labor media management by avoiding being of much interest to anyone.

Enlightening, these days, is in the eye of the beholder.

You may or may not have emerged enlightened, but one thing is certain: you probably threw something at your TV set.

West, an American preacher/philosopher, had a unique ability to prompt a viewer to both reach for the stars and reach for the nearest bit of crockery.

Advertisement

"The thing that holds democracies together," he said. "The glue that constitutes the very raw stuff of very fragile experiments called democracy. In the case of Donald Trump you get a tribalism to polarisation, the manipulation of the language, the scapegoating of the vulnerable, one can go on and on and on…”

And be in no doubt, West can go on and on and on.

He barely paused when calling his fellow panellist Abetz, the Tasmanian senator and permanent illustration of the myriad ways in which a man’s eyes can pop for no apparent reason, "my brother".

It’s an affectation that is unfortunately adopted by those on the receiving end, such that people like Abetz pretend to take it seriously and end up using it to co-opt the alternative argument.

To wit, Abetz, white-splaining to West that things are going very well for his African-American brethren in the United States: "With great respect, I think we have a very negative view of the US. Your black brothers are in fact getting jobs and they might not be earning as much as you would like, but given that they've got jobs, they're better off than they were without a job. And surely you have to give a tick to that."

You really have to go to the video tape to hear Abetz say "your black brothers" to fully appreciate it. But you also have to listen to West call Abetz "my dear brother" - perhaps unaware of just who he is dealing with - to fully want to turn off the TV.

It became a theme, with host Tony Jones, laden with irony, asking of West: "Do you agree with your brother Eric?"

West: "No. He's wrong again. He's wrong again."

And Abetz opening a sentence with this: “You can have all the laws you like - and I think my brother here would agree with me..."

There is an argument against inviting foreigners, especially Americans, on late-night Australian TV shows and it dates back to The Don Lane Show. The argument is that American guests have little clue what they are in for, and have little interest anyway.

And even though they’ve agreed to the embarrassment, it might be best to warn them in advance they might end up sitting next to Eric Abetz. Or Don Lane, for that matter, though at least he was originally an American.

But of course, the ultimate embarrassment for any travelling American nowadays is neither Don Lane nor a senator from Tasmania. It’s Donald Trump.

Eric Abetz told American philosopher Cornel West it was regretful that he compared the Trump administration to those of Hitler and Mussolini.

Eric Abetz told American philosopher Cornel West it was regretful that he compared the Trump administration to those of Hitler and Mussolini.Credit: ABC

West: "I think Donald Trump is a gangster. I was a gangster before I met Jesus and I'm redeemed… When he grabs a woman's private parts or makes jokes about it, he's going to get oil in another country, that's gangster.”

And this: “Hitler and Mussolini had low unemployment rates. They made the trains run on time. We're talking about moral and spiritual issues. Not just the numbers.”

Abetz declared West’s equating Trump with Hitler and Mussolini "a matter of regret".

West declared himself misunderstood: “I want to make it clear on Australian television, I didn't make that equivalency. My dear brother corrected me, if you thought I said that.”

Oh, brother, Cornel.

It’s Eric Abetz. Don’t apologise.

Most Viewed in Culture

Loading